Would they throw YOU out of the boat?

Choices.

We've all face them...   Choosing the type of car you can afford vs. the type of car you want. Choosing a life partner. Choosing a thick juicy steak over tofu (Wait! there's no choice there!)

As leaders, we sometimes find ourselves making difficult choices that have profound impact on other people.

We can't be in charge only when times are good.

Which projects are delayed? Or cut?

If things get tough enough, the choices may get harder.

You have to reduce your team size.  Who do you pick?

Side note: If the thought of doing this makes you incredibly uncomfortable, that means you are human.  If you could never, ever let someone go, then you should not aspire to be a senior leader.  There are times you will need to do this.  It comes with the territory. On the flip side... If you can let people go and it doesn't bother you, then I would suggest you are missing a key element of leadership - empathy.

Philosophy classes over the years have loved to present these ethical dilemmas - the most famous of which is the "Lifeboat Dilemma". Who stays? Who goes?

Here's a wrinkle in this scenario.

Sometimes the person with the dilemma is not you.  It's the person you report to.  If they were faced with operational cuts, would you or your department survive?  Especially with all the Cloud vendors hawking the increased performance and reduced costs that the cloud will bring? ( Disclaimer - this is marketing rhetoric, not my opinion ).

I would suggest that your personal and organizational survival are based on one key metric - value.  And by value I mean the contribution you and your team make to the overall corporate goals and objectives.

So the competency you need to develop post is... 

Corporate Contributor

As mentioned in the my post on Collaboration, IT is one of the only departments (along with Finance) that is horizontal - working with every department and function within the organization. We offer great value in our exposure to all of the parts and processes, and our knowledge of how things fit together.

All of this knowledge does little good if your stakeholders cannot articulate how the IT department helps them be successful.  You may be doing the most innovative things in the world, but you may find yourself on the wrong side of a decision when cuts are made if the executive and board aren't aware of your department's contribution to the organization.

This isn't about boasting, but putting practices in place (metrics, KPIs, feedback mechanisms) that ensure that IT's contribution is clearly understood and documented.

It's also very relational. It is you and your Directors and Managers getting out of your offices and "putting a face (or a person) on technology". Your stakeholders aren't dealing with the "IT department", but dealing with Diane, Asim, Humaira, Jason, Jennifer, Mike, Nathan, Jon, Elaine, etc.

Corporate Contribution in practice looks like this:

• Your CEO or President can complete the following phrase in a positive way: "The IT Department helps us be successful by..."
• Your board members and other members of the executive team can do the same.
• Your stakeholders can do the same.
• You have established KPIs for your team, and you regularly meet or exceed your performance goals.
• You manage your budget well, and transparently.
• You have established sound project management practices to ensure projects are done on time, on (or under) budget and in scope.
• Your results (performance increases, operational efficiencies, cost savings) are real and measurable.
• You allow yourself to be accountable.
• Each of your technology initiatives can be directly tied to the organizational goals and objectives.

At the end of the day, your contribution could be summed up in the sentence "You help people be successful in what they do, or do things they didn't know they could accomplish."

If you and your department are viewed as valuable contributors to the organization, your seat in the lifeboat is pretty much assured.

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Images: Screen shot from the Alfred Hitchcock movie: Lifeboat.

Note: A version of this article has been previously published on LinkedIn

About the Author:

I'm convinced that IT leadership needs to dramatically change how IT is delivered rather than being relegated to a costly overhead department.

In addition to transforming IT in my role as CIO, I look for every opportunity to talk about this... writing, speaking and now blogging on BeBee (https://www.bebee.com/@kevin-pashuk) , LinkedIn, ITWorld Canada, or at TurningTechInvisible.com.

I also shoot things... with my camera. Check out my photostream at www.flickr.com/photos/kwpashuk